Listening to music during the early stages after stoke speeds up the recovery of patients, say scientists from the University of Helsinki. These original results were published in the February issue of the leading neurological journal Brain.
Teppo Sarkamo and his team of researchers carried out the investigation using sixty patients that had suffered a stroke of the left or right hemisphere of the middle cerebral artery. The individuals were randomly assigned to a music group, a language group or a control group, that listened to music, audio books or nothing at all respectively for a two month period. Those in the music group showed a significantly better improvement in focused attention and verbal memory compared with those in either of the other two factions. In addition patient’s moods were elevated, directing attention away from their negative experience brought about by the sudden neurological illness and thereby providing a means to cope with emotional stress.
The team of Finnish scientists observed that listening to any musical genre for a minimum of one hour per day led to the activation of a network of brain regions ultimately resulting in the increased production of dopamine, a brain hormone associated with attention, motivation, mood and learning. Furthermore, it led to an increased stimulation of two brain areas, known as the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens, linked with the suppression of aversive stimuli and pain.
In past studies music has been found to improve cognition in dementia patients, spelling skills in dyslexic patients as well as alleviating anxiety in those suffering from emotional distress, the latter brought about by a decrease in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Interestingly, developmental research has also found music to stimulate the growth of nerve cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with memory formation.
Sarkamo and his colleagues certainly find their results promising, however, more research is certainly needed in order to deduce the underlying neural mechanisms responsible for the observed effects.
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